Left tackle Matt Lepsis (78) and five-time Pro Bowl center Tom Nalen (66) again are playing key roles for a Broncos offensive line that continues to power one of the NFL's best ground games. Denver is averaging 158.8 yards rushing in a 12-3 season.

All of these improvements made the Broncos’ rise to AFC West title and the No. 2 playoff seed possible. However, one constant has been just as vital as the other factors in Denver building a 12-3 record. Without the Broncos’ ground game, there wouldn’t be success; it’s the earmark of a Mike Shana- han-coached attack. Of course, in Denver, the longtime success of the running game is courtesy of the offensive line.

Denver, ranked No. 2 in the NFL in rushing (158.8 yards per game) behind Atlanta, has 2,382 yards rushing. The team’s record for rushing yards is 2,629 set in 2003. If Tatum Bell gains 131 yards Saturday in the Broncos’ regular-season finale at San Diego, he will join teammate Mike Anderson as a 1,000-yard rusher. They would become only the fourth pair of teammates in NFL history to gain 1,000 yards in a season and the first duo since 1985.

“Our line starts it all,” Anderson said. “They’ve been great, as usual.”

The faces, most of them with closed mouths, may have changed over the years, but the success remains the same. This season has been no different.

A year after moving right tackle George Foster into the starting lineup and shifting Matt Lepsis from right to left tackle, the Broncos started the season with a new face. Cooper Carlisle, who finished last season at right guard, officially took over for the released Dan Neil at right guard.

“They are great players, and as far as I am concerned, they are the best in the league, too,” Plummer said of the linemen who have enabled him to go 31-11 as Denver’s QB. “They just want to win ballgames and get to the Super Bowl.”

The group has not received much individual attention over the years.

This season, the Broncos were hoping 12-year center Tom Nalen would earn his sixth trip to the Pro Bowl, but he is a first alternate. Left guard Ben Hamilton is a third alternate for the Pro Bowl.

However, individual honors are not part of the mind-set for this unit. It is a group thing. Individualism is not in vogue and, of course, few words are spoken. Carrying on a tradition of former Denver line coach Alex Gibbs, the group does not speak to the media, although it has designated Foster as its spokesman.

Ironically, Foster may be the quietest of the group.

“I don’t have much to say,” Foster often has said this season when he isn’t playfully trying to get out of his spokesman role by telling reporters he doesn’t speak English.

Asked why he thinks the unit has jelled this season, Foster doesn’t have an elaborate explanation, saying: “There’s no magic potion. Guys have just come together and worked well together.”

And opened mammoth holes together.

“They play with great synchronicity,” Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist said. “That’s the key to it all.”

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